Monday April 4th Elda to Castalla

After three pretty average days today's walk was a distinct improvement. The weather was a bit fresher and the route went higher. Not a long day, the walk was only 22 kilometres, but with over 600 metres of climb I was above the 1000 metre contour for the first time for a while.

After finding your way out of Elba, walking along roads for a couple of kilometres you then go through a slightly scary tunnel underneath the main Madrid Alicante motorway. The tunnel was slighty scary because it was long, pitch black, and in the middle, mysteriously parked was a black BMW with sleeping occupants. How the car got there and why the occupants considered a motorway subway a good place to have a sleep is question I would prefer others to ask.

Although not spectacular the walk got better and better and views looking backwards in particular got bigger. Walking along forest trails you were travelling through increasingly mature pine woodlands, occasional olive groves, fields of barley and open hill sides which perhaps had been the victim of forest fires. Not a lot or wildlife after the abundance of Andalusia but I did get a picture of a bird which is a bit of a mystery. My assumption was that it was a Jay, there are a lot of Jays here, but do Jays have a crest?

View back towards Elba

Hooper 

The last bit of climbing was a lot steeper than anything I've done for the last few days, made worse by the fact that Christine Durrant, who is walking with me at the moment, is a very fast walker. The stiffness in left ankle had completely gone but has reappeared in the right one. I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of advice from my medical team at home but I have been able to get huge Ibuprofen tablets which in the UK would only be given to a horse.

The top wasn't quite a pass and you had to walk for another couple of miles before the final descent into Castalla. On the way in we saw deer and boar but in strange place which seemed to be half zoo, half farm. Much preferred the glimpses I got in the Cazorla.

Captive 

Castalla definitely fits with the emerging model that the more prosperous a place looks the more it's been hit by the recession. Relative to its size the extent of the development looks massive. The castle towering above the town looks completely restored, as does much of the old town centre but the huge housing development on the southern edge of town has come to a grinding halt.

Castalla

We are staying in brand new hotel, the Don Jose. Got here in time for lunch and well set up for a longer walk to Alcoi tomorrow and the big game.

Sunday 3rd April Pinosa to Elba

Today's walk was 26 kilometres in overcast, warm and humid conditions, often on roads through countryside which was not very memorable I'm afraid. Not exactly inspirational.

The presence of British immigrants in Spain, evident for the first time yesterday on the approach to Pinosa, becomes increasingly apparent towards Elba. Two characteristics seem to distinguish them from the Spanish: firstly a love of gardens, which are often huge; and, secondly a willingness to pour money into old rotting buildings. There are huge numbers of wonderful old farmsteads all ready for the Grand Design treatment and as you get closer to the bits of Spain where the British congregate than these buildings start to get rescued.

Abandoned "finca"

Apart from the weather being a bit more overcast it was a very similar walk to yesterday's, a gentle climb up out of Pinosa, a short descent and a walk across a wide cultivated valley, another gentle climb and then a long descent into Elba.

At the beginning of the walk across the valley you go through the pretty village of Casas del Senyor. Particularly interesting were the chimneys which emerged at street level from the houses in the terrace below and, later on, the beautiful aqueduct, which I guess dates back to the time of Moors.

Walking on the roof

Moorish Aquaduct in Casas del Senyor 

This dry landscape gets particularly ugly as you approach towns and was especially ugly during the final walk to Elba. The abandoned terraced fields, extensive fly tipping and the municipal tip made everything look completely unloved. Amongst all this, and with an impressive gate, sat Elba's cemetery, already big but with scope for significant expansion.

Huge gate to the crematorium near Elba

Elba by the way is the largest town I have been to so far, a population of over 45,000, and the Spanish centre for the manufacture of shoes.

With a Spanish resident as a walking companion and I'm getting my eye in for signs of the recession. I now understand the difference between the "for sale" sign for property which is being sold in the standard way and a property which has been repossessed by the banks and is subject to a forced sale. You can get very good financing terms with a forced sale. If I needed any further evidence of the immediacy of the recession I got it when I arrived at the hotel which had been booked only a few days ago but had now closed.

Signs of collapsed housing market everywhere